CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Women are not fairly represented in the tech world. And that's a problem - for women, of course, and for men, too.

If investors shut down women's ideas, you miss out on what could become your favorite phone app, or a product to make your life easier. If venture capitalists don't include women in decision making, you lose the perspective of half the market.

"The percentage of women-founded venture-backed companies globally has plateaued at approximately 17 percent since 2012," according to TechCrunch.com. Women CEOs receive about 3 percent of venture capital invested between 2011 and 2013, according to one study. That's $1.5 billion of a $50.8 billion pot.

Women are breaking into tech fields, though, and Cleveland tech accelerator JumpStart is bringing three female tech leaders from outside the state to the 2018 Startup Scaleup Tuesday in the Gordon Square Arts District.

Startup Scaleup is an all-day festival celebrating the growth of Northeast Ohio's entrepreneurial ecosystem and showcasing local resources available to help entrepreneurs. Startup Scaleup's 39 different workshops, panels and networking events will occur in 13 eateries, theaters and creative spaces.

"Silicon Valley and certainly venture capital has been a boys' club, and in a lot of ways that has left really talented women on the sidelines," said Startup Scaleup featured speaker Monique Woodard, a San Francisco venture capitalist.

There are plenty of women with good ideas, said Gerri Kahnweiler, founding partner of the Chicago venture capital firm InvestHER, which focuses on investing in companies with at least one woman owner. She said she's talked to more than 1,000 women entrepreneurs and invested in 13 ventures.

"We kept hearing before we started the fund there isn't a pipeline, there just aren't enough women out there who are creating businesses," Kahnweiler said. "And we have proven that so wrong."

What are the hurdles for women in tech? Shatter spoke to the three women featured as Startup Scaleup speakers. Here's what they had to say.

How women pitch

Women entrepreneurs often promise what they know they can deliver to venture capitalists, said Kahnweiler. Men tend to promise the moon.

Kahnweiler said she's heard that her male counterparts appreciate the over-the-top approach.

"They like that bravado; they like that big selling, that big idea, as opposed to the more measured approach," Kahnweiler said.

Unconscious bias

"People gravitate toward like people," Kahnweiler said.

Male venture capitalists may have an unconscious, unintended bias toward pitches from men. Venture capitalists also may ask different questions of women than men, she said. Instead of big-picture questions about the business model, women will get asked about how they will handle negative situations, such as competition.

Women pitching ideas or products centered on women also have a harder time selling to men.

"Anecdotally -- I don't know if this is true -- I've heard men go home and say to their wives or daughters, 'Oh would you use this, yes or no?' And that's their sole market research to make a decision," Kahnweiler said.

Women helping women

The more women start up founders receive support from venture capitalists, the more women's ranks in entrepreneurship will improve, Woodard said.

"If you're a woman who has an idea but she doesn't see any other women in her space having success... then thinking about starting your own start up is sort of a fool's errand," Woodard said.

"We've certainly seen a lot of high-flying start ups brought down by corporate culture, and I think a lot of that culture wouldn't be present in the companies founded by women," Woodard said.

Challenges women face

Hannah Fleishman, who helps lead a marketing campaign to recruit new talent to software company HubSpot, said she's been lucky to work for a company that is inclusive and supportive of women's careers.

Speaking about the tech industry broadly, she said she believes a decade ago there was a clear distinction between the way men and women were treated in their careers. She thinks that's changing, and more women are feeling comfortable about speaking up about inequality in tech, Fleishman said.

"I think there's been quite a domino effect of women saying, 'I've worked at this huge tech company and I was unfairly treated,'" Fleishman said.

That's forcing companies to examine the root causes of the problem, Fleishman said. But she believes there's lots of good work being done to help even the playing field for women in tech, such as Girls Who Code.

"There are tons of efforts and initiatives and programs out there that are trying to really balance tech from a gender perspective," Fleishman said. "I think it's tough. There's a ton of work to be done, but I think at least now we're at a point where there's more or less a collective agreement that we have to improve this."